Disappointing Customer Service

[Varminterror]

I picked up a gift certificate at a club level Precision Rifle match this spring for $100 off on a Huber trigger, good through July 31. So I called today to order, John himself answers the phone, and I mentioned I wanted to order the trigger on the certificate - which says to ask for "Diz". He said they'd fired Diz, cancelled that program as of July 15, and wouldn't be honoring any more of the certificates they'd donated to the clubs for the match prize tables.

He offered that he'd take my order for a trigger, but at list price. Considering that he said they cancelled that program 5 days ago, and the certificate expires July 31 - less than 2 wks from now - I told him I'd be happy to order a trigger at list price... From TriggerTech instead!

Really disappointed to see a company back out of honoring a prize table donation they'd made. Even if their employee was offering something he shouldn't have, it doesn't make much sense to me to shaft a bunch of potential customers and not honor certificates, especially with only about 10 days left on the clock.

 

[LoonWulf]

Agreed, and while I suppose that's within their rights, that was a perfect opportunity for some excellent PR.
Too bad they felt the cost of a trigger wasn't worth it.

 

[Robert]

If the employee was doing it without the owners knowledge I'd not expect them to honor something they didn't approve in the first place. Depending on how many the employee mailed out the company could be put a lot of money.

 

[js8588]

That's fine. You'll enjoy the TriggerTech.

 

[larryh1108]

I'd be curious to see if there is any fine print with disclaimers.
I'd then ask John if he'd rather honor the coupon or to pay for your lawyer and court costs plus the $100 coupon.
He may relent or he may call your bluff. However, it is easy to file a claim in small claims court and he'd be liable for any out of pocket expenses you incur if he loses.
Hey, it's $100. Give him some grief for being a jerk.

 

[Varminterror]

If an employee did make unapproved promises, most businesses with a sense for customer service would chalk it up to "this is going to cost us a lot of money." Companies send promo products and certificates to these club level matches to gain access to new shooters, it sounds like a lot of us are getting a bad taste of the company. Eat the losses to earn the new business, and make it up on the growth. Or don't honor your certificates and turn away what would have been potential new customers. Easy business decision, in my experience.

I do enjoy TriggerTechs. Comparatively, I'll share a somewhat similar event with a very different outcome. During the NRA Annual Meeting in Dallas this year, TriggerTech had a 15% discount for any web purchase during the Convention. I noticed the web price was $10 more than the sticker at the show, and I couldn't get the promo code to work, so I called the next Monday. Their rep pulled my order, and said it would be easier if he just gave me a 20% discount instead of changing the price in the order, plus free shipping. It ended up about $20-25 cheaper than what it should have been. I was even happy to pay the $10 price difference, since the stickers at the NRAAM weren't really an official storefront, so all I called to do was to get the 15% applied, but they went above and beyond to get and keep my sale.

Of the two experiences I've mentioned here, I am where I am between the two companies. It wouldn't matter to me if Huber sent me a free trigger at this point, I'm just not interested in playing games with a poor customer service group. I'm very happy to recommend TriggerTech triggers, as a product and as a company, anywhere. I also love Jewel HVR's and Shilen triggers. I shot a Calvin Elite from Timney last weekend as well, and have one on order for myself. Too many nice girls to ask to dance to tolerate one who brays like a donkey.

There was no fine print on the Certificate. It was an emailable 8.5x11 printable cert about on par with your average Church Bazaar level of Microsoft Powerpoint abilities applied. "Good for $100 off 700 Style built to your specs, Redeem thru Diz at Huber Expires July 31, 2018" Phone number, a few product pictures, company logo, and 6 lines of product details. No fine print.

 

[cdb1]

Maybe Diz got fired for being a stand up guy. I’ve seen that happen numerous times.

 

[imashooter]

Don't know who they are, don't want to know who they are and, would have politely (no hollering) told him to pound sand. Over a blanking trigger. Smart man; not.

 

[JeeperCreeper]

Did he at least explain the situation to you? I may not be "as mad" if he was able to level with you...

...something like "We had to fire Diz because he gave out 6,000 of these vouchers, and that means we have to sell 6,000 less than cost and that would mean our company would go bankrupt and my wife would leave me. But I'll tell you what, I'll sell you a trigger at cost and throw in a free T shirt. I'm really sorry, but he screwed us and that's the best I can do to make it right..."

 

[LoonWulf]

If the employee was doing it without the owners knowledge I'd not expect them to honor something they didn't approve in the first place. Depending on how many the employee mailed out the company could be put a lot of money.

This is a fair point.

Did he at least explain the situation to you? I may not be "as mad" if he was able to level with you...

...something like "We had to fire Diz because he gave out 6,000 of these vouchers, and that means we have to sell 6,000 less than cost and that would mean our company would go bankrupt and my wife would leave me. But I'll tell you what, I'll sell you a trigger at cost and throw in a free T shirt. I'm really sorry, but he screwed us and that's the best I can do to make it right..."

And if it had been handled like this, which isnt how im reading it, id be more understanding.

 

[BWS]

John didn't have time to OK the original Diz deal,but now has time to cancel it?

Somebody dropped the ball,and I would have delt with it like the OP.Had there been an explanation...... well,it might have helped?

 

[redneck2]

rage Church Bazaar level of Microsoft Powerpoint abilities applied. "Good for $100 off 700 Style built to your specs, Redeem thru Diz at Huber Expires July 31, 2018" Phone number, a few product pictures, company logo, and 6 lines of product details. No fine print.

I can see the issue there. What’s to stop anyone from simply emailing it to anyone that wants a trigger cheap. You could forward it to me, and I could use it too.

While you got the raw end of the deal, I suspect the owner you talked to was tired of getting scammed.

 

[doubleh]

In this situation it would depend entirely how the company explained the situation as to what I did or didn't do. If the explanation was as stated in the OP I would have thanked him nicely and added that I knew how to order another brand of trigger as did the OP. A more in depth explanation and a "I'm sorry we can no longer honor that as it's become too costly to remain in business if we do" and I would have gone ahead with the purchase..

 

[Varminterror]

There’s plenty of provenance for who shot at what matches, even provenance from the MD’s who could have gotten them from the prize table. In their defense, it is not so uncommon for this type of cert to be similarly unrefined, the system is pretty straight forward, no need to produce watermarked and serialized certificates.